We Make Our Own History: Marxism, Social Movements and the Crisis of Neoliberalism

We are living in the twilight of neoliberalism: the ruling classes can no longer rule as before, and ordinary people are no longer willing to be ruled in the old way. Pursued by global elites since the 1970s, neoliberalism is defined by dispossession and inequality. The refusal to continue to be ruled like this - "ya basta" - appears in an arc of resistance stretching from rural India to the cities of the global North. From this movement of movements, new visions emerge of a future beyond neoliberalism. We Make Our Own World responds to this experience. The first systematic Marxist analysis of social movements, it reclaims Marxism as the theory born from activist experience and practice. It shows how movements can develop from local conflicts to global struggles; how neoliberalism operates as collective action from above, and how popular struggles can create new worlds from below. We live in the twilight of neoliberalism: the ruling classes can no longer rule as before, and ordinary people are no longer willing to be ruled in the old way. Pursued by global elites since the 1970s, neoliberalism is defined by dispossession and ever-increasing inequality. The refusal to continue to be ruled like this - 'ya basta!' - appears in an arc of resistance stretching from rural India to the cities of the global North.

From this network of movements, new visions are emerging of a future beyond neoliberalism. We Make Our Own History responds to these visions by reclaiming Marxism as a theory born from activist experience and practice.

This book marks a break both with established social movement theory, and with those forms of Marxism which treat the practice of social movement organising as an unproblematic process. It shows how movements can develop from local conflicts to global struggles; how neoliberalism operates as a social movement from above, and how popular struggles can create new worlds from below. Annotation We live in the twilight of neoliberalism: the ruling classes can no longer rule as before, and ordinary people are no longer willing to be ruled in the old way. Pursued by global elites since the 1970s, neoliberalism is defined by dispossession and ever-increasing inequality. The refusal to continue to be ruled like this - "ya basta!"--Appears in an arc of resistance stretching from rural India to the cities of the global North. From this network of movements, new visions are emerging of a future beyond neoliberalism. We make our own History responds to these visions by reclaiming Marxism as a theory born from activist experience and practice. This book marks a break both with established social movement theory, and with those forms of Marxism which treat the practice of social movement organising as an unproblematic process. It shows how movements can develop from local conflicts to global struggles; how neoliberalism operates as a social movement from above, and how popular struggles can create new worlds from below Half-title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface: About This Book -- 1 'The This-Worldliness of their Thought': Social Movements and Theory -- 2 'History Does Nothing': The Primacy of Praxis in Movement Theorising -- 3 'The Authors and the Actors of Their Own Drama': A Marxist Theory of Social Movements -- 4 'The Bourgeoisie, Historically, Has Played a Most Revolutionary Part': Social Movements from Above and Below in Historical Capitalism -- 5 'The Point is to Change It': Movements From Below Against Neoliberalism -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index A rethinking of popular political movements, this book looks at new, emerging, mass visions and analyses their impact and potential in new ways